Sigismtjkd beer



TTE i SIGISMUND BEER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MODE 0F PREVENTING THE COUNTERFEITiNG 0F BANK-NUTES, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent'No. 84,606, dated December 1, 186B..

To all whom it imay concern:

Beit known that I, SIGISMUND BEER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have discovered a new Means of Preventing the Gounterfeiting of Bank-Notes and similar arti,

cles; andI hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebein g had to the accompanying drawings, making a partof this specification, and

lthe letters of Vreference marked thereon, in`

.are mostly printed from engraved plates. To

prevent imitation, most elaborate engravings' are produced by skillful artists. Sections of suchpplates are cut with exquisite minuteness by machinery, and photographic copying is Aguarded'against by covering the paper with a colored tint from a plate of fine and faint lathework, before the note is printed. These preeautionsare insufficient as wellas expensive. What skillful hands have produced other skillful hands can successfully imitate, and the cuts aV machine produces can be obtained by like mechanical arrangement. Furthermore, if the work is complicated, it is difficult to detect the differences between counterfeit and'genuine notes.

My discovery consists in preventing imitation of suchv articles by printing them upon material first made inimitable by use of surface-plates on which the designs have been in wholeor'in part produced' by .nature herself in the `structural Vformation of the fiber ofA plants by gradual growth. I v

A pieceof well-grained walnut, ashfchestnut, or similar wood, or a veneer thereof, is cut the size of ,the note-wanted and carefully planed. If thiu,itmay be fastened to a thicker board beforeplaning. v y Y If only a few prints are wanted, the so-prepared block isV sufficient and ready'to print from by the common printers press; but if the wood is soft, and many prints are wanted, an electrotype is to be. taken ofthe surface of the'bloek, in the usual way of the art, and the paper'printedl therefrom in colored tin ts willl Show everygrain Vor fiberv of the. wood. with wonderful exactness and delicacy. 0n this paperfthusl covered with natural designs, the

bank-note is to be printed in the usual way.

VIf it is desiredv to keep the matrix, the wood ought .to be well seasoned, to prevent swellinggshrinking, or decay. I- therefore preferlto'ii'se Beerized-wood, seasoned according to the process described in the Letters Patent of the United States to me of January 2l, 1868,'. No. 73,565.

There are manifold Variations to which my'processof producing inimitableprintingplates of natural design for bank-notes, &c., is open.

Instead of using'the surface-design as it is grown, lpart of the surface of the wood lmay be covered with any drawing or letters or figures on gypsum or other suitable'mass, so v that the open grain is evenly filled up as far as such drawing or lettering is desired to be.

seen on theprnt. M v Another way to produce drawings on such plates -isto soften the wood, byv steaming or A otherwse, and then impress such drawings evenly deep. When the wood' is again hard, plane it down to the surface of the impression.

The dierence in the structure of theimpressed part will Ibe seenjin the prints -with a very agreeable effect. v f

The easy way of stamping, cutting, and

sawing such wooden platesbefore the electro# plate is taken therefrom furnishes another .means of producing designs in various shapes ,and of blanks of any desired effect, or to insert such, or to compose the whole plate or` parts of different-grained surfaces.

Another variation of marked effect 1s offered by the use of corrugated snrfacesr,

If such veneers are used, 'they may be l straightened, as is commonly done when; put

on a thicker board, before'the electrot-ype is. 'taken there from.

When thicker pieces ofv wood with acorragated surface are used, the electrotypeplate c maybe straightened after it has been taken. Instead of using the surface of wood across the grain -in a plane plate, I sometimes use, for better effect the surface of roundcut wood orv v veneers, an straighten them', either before or after electrotyping, in the manner just described; 'but I do not confine myself to plane A 'and multiform effects ofthe processes of na-v A ture in thegrowth Of plants as not to beinfstantly recognizable by va practiced eye. A I --:Besi-des, producing such plates and print! ig therefrom is most simple, and nearly costless compared 'with albmethods heretofore employed. A

What I claim as' my disccve'ryand desire vto secure'byLetters Paten-t, is -V v. v

. Making a bank-noteer other printedarticle ,inimitable7 substantialy in the manner and. by

the means described.

- v'SlGrISMUNID BE-ER. Witnesses:'

' S. J. GORDON, i

GEO. H. COLLINS. 

